Former Norwich, West Ham and Blackburn man to get Charlton action against Cambridge and Dulwich

BY RICHARD CAWLEY

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer will play Elliott Ward in both the club’s pre-season friendlies this week – against Cambridge United tomorrow and then at Dulwich Hamlet on Wednesday night.

The centre-back, on a free after his release by Blackburn, played the second 45 minutes at Welling United at the weekend.

The Addicks’ fixture against Cambridge United had been an under-23 fixture but Bowyer wanted to use first-teamers in the contest and it will now be behind closed doors.

Two Charlton elevens will play four 30-minute matches at the club’s Sparrows Lane training ground.

“I don’t think he really got tested,” said Bowyer when asked about Ward’s first runout. “Maybe I should have played him in the first half and it would have been a bit more physical for him.

“We’ve got Tuesday and Wednesday, so he’s going to play in them two games. You’ve got to remember he’s only been in a week, where our lads have been in two or three weeks.

“You can see whar he’s good at. He wins the ball in the air, he’s a man. He’s experienced, he knows the game. His fitness looked a bit off but you’d expect that after being in such a short space of time.”

Bowyer’s plans for the next two friendlies look to have shifted a bit from how he outlined them going on Saturday.

He said: “We’ll split the two teams up as equally as we possibly can. The two teams who played against QPR played today [Saturday]. They will play 60-30 against Cambridge, then we’ll reverse it for Dulwich.

“For Crawley we will mix it up a little more and Brighton we will mix it up. Norwich will be a stronger team.”